When you design a Microsoft Office InfoPath form template, you can choose whether to display the data that users enter into specific fields in the form as columns in the default view of a document library on a Microsoft Windows SharePoint site. You can choose which fields to use as columns when you design your form template, or you can wait to specify the columns when you publish your form template to the document library.
In this article
Before you begin
When you publish a form template to a document library, every form that is created in that document library will be based on that form template. Publishing a form template to a document library lets you quickly deploy a single-use form, such as an informal survey to capture restaurant preferences for a team lunch.
If you publish a form template to a server that is running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can also do the following:
Publish a form template as a site content type When you publish a form template as a site content type, you enable users to assign multiple form templates to a single document library or to assign the form template to multiple libraries across a site collection. A site collection is a set of Web sites on a virtual server that have the same owner and share the administration settings. Each site collection contains a top-level Web site and can contain one or more subsites. There can be multiple site collections on each virtual server. Use a site content type when you want to widely reuse information or to enable the collection of data from many forms in a single place.
Enable users to edit fields by using a datasheet view You can allow your users to add or edit data for a field by using a datasheet view or by editing the properties for a form in the document library. This enables users to add or update data for one or more forms without actually opening the forms.
Note: Datasheet views are enabled in the Web browser only for users who have Microsoft Office Access 2007 installed.
Note: Support for libraries and site content types varies, depending on whether your server is running Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Therefore, you should ask the server administrator if you are not sure which version of Windows SharePoint Services is running on the server.
Specify document library columns when you design a form template
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Open the form template.
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On the Tools menu, click Form Options.
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Click Property Promotion.
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Do one of the following:
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To add a column, click Add, click the field or repeating group for which you want to create a column, and then type a name for the column in the Column name box.
Note: If you select a repeating field to display data in the document library, you can define how you want to display the field in the document library by clicking a value in the Function list. You can choose whether to display the first value in the field, the last value in the field, or a count of all of the occurrences of the field or whether to merge all of the values together.
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To remove a column, click the column in the list, and then click Remove.
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To modify a column, click the column in the list, click Modify, and then make the appropriate changes.
Note: Some options for adding, removing, or modifying columns are available only when you publish to a SharePoint site.
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Specify document library columns when you publish a form template to a new document library
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Save your form template.
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On the File menu, click Publish.
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In the Publishing Wizard, click To a SharePoint server with or without InfoPath Forms Services, and then click Next.
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In the Enter the location of your SharePoint or InfoPath Forms Services site box, type the location of the SharePoint site, and then click Next.
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On the next page of the wizard, click Document Library, and then click Next.
Note: If you are publishing a browser-compatible form template to a SharePoint site, the Enable this form to be filled out by using a browser check box is unavailable. To create a browser-enabled form template, you must publish your form template to a server that is running InfoPath Forms Services. Find links to more information about InfoPath Forms Services in the See also section.
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Click Create a new document library, and then click Next.
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Type the name and description for the document library, and then click Next.
The name and description of the form template will appear in the default view of the document library.
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Do one of the following:
Add a column
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Click Add.
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Do one of the following:
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To add a new column to the document library, select the field whose data you want to appear in the column, select (None: Create new column in this library) in the Site column group list, and then type a name for the column in the Column name box.
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To use an existing site column, select the category in the Site column group list, and then select a name in the Column name list.
Note: If you select a repeating field to display data in the document library, you can define how you want to display the field in the document library by clicking a value in the Function list. You can choose whether to display the first value in the field, the last value in the field, or a count of all of the occurrences of the field or whether to merge all of the values together.
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To enable users to add or edit data for this field by using a datasheet view or by editing the properties for a form in the document library, select the Allow users to edit data in this field by using a datasheet or properties page check box.
Note: To use a datasheet view, users must have Microsoft Office Access 2007 installed on their computers.
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Remove a column
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Under Column Name, click the name of the field whose corresponding column you want to remove, and then click Remove.
Modify a column
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Under Column Name, click the name of the field whose corresponding column you want to modify, and then click Modify.
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Do one of the following:
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Type a new name for the column in the Column name box.
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Select the category in the Site column group list, and then select a name in the Column name list.
Note: If you select a repeating field to display data in the document library, you can define how you want to display the field in the document library by clicking a value in the Function list. You can choose whether to display the first value in the field, the last value in the field, or a count of all of the occurrences of the field or whether to merge all of the values together.
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To enable users to add or edit data for this field by using a datasheet view or by editing the properties for a form in the document library, select the Allow users to edit data in this field by using a datasheet or properties page check box.
Note: To use a datasheet view, users must have Microsoft Office Access 2007 installed on their computers.
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When you finish defining the columns for your library, click Next.
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On the next page of the wizard, verify that the information is correct, and then click Publish.
Specify document library columns when you publish a form template to an existing document library
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Save your form template.
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On the File menu, click Publish.
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In the Publishing Wizard, click To a SharePoint server with or without InfoPath Forms Services, and then click Next.
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In the Enter the location of your SharePoint or InfoPath Forms Services site box, type the location of the SharePoint site, and then click Next.
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On the next page of the wizard, click Document Library, and then click Next.
Note: If you are publishing a browser-compatible form template to a SharePoint site, the Enable this form to be filled out by using a browser check box is unavailable. To create a browser-enabled form template, you must publish your form template to a server that is running InfoPath Forms Services. Find links to more information about InfoPath Forms Services in the See also section.
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Click Update the form template in an existing document library, and then click the document library that you want to update.
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Click Next.
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Do one of the following:
Add a column
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Click Add.
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Do one of the following:
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To add a new column to the document library, select the field whose data you want to appear in the column, select (None: Create new column in this library) in the Site column group list, and then type a name for the column in the Column name box.
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To use an existing document library column or site column, select the category in the Site column group list, and then select the name in the Column name list.
Note: If you select a repeating field to display data in the document library, you can define how you want to display the field in the document library by clicking a value in the Function list. You can choose whether to display the first value in the field, the last value in the field, or a count of all of the occurrences of the field or whether to merge all of the values together.
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To enable users to add or edit data for this field by using a datasheet view or by editing the properties for a form in the document library, select the Allow users to edit data in this field by using a datasheet or properties page check box.
Note: To use a datasheet view, users must have Microsoft Office Access 2007 installed on their computers.
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Remove a column
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Under Column Name, click the name of the field whose corresponding column you want to remove, and then click Remove.
Modify a column
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Under Column Name, click the name of the field whose corresponding column you want to modify, and then click Modify.
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Do one of the following:
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Type a new name for the column in the Column name box.
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Select the category in the Site column group list, and then select a name in the Column name list.
Note: If you select a repeating field to display data in the document library, you can define how you want to display the field in the document library by clicking a value in the Function list. You can choose whether to display the first value in the field, the last value in the field, or a count of all of the occurrences of the field or whether to merge all of the values together.
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To enable users to add or edit data for this field by using a datasheet view or by editing the properties for a form in the document library, select the Allow users to edit data in this field by using a datasheet or properties page check box.
Note: To use a datasheet view, users must have Microsoft Office Access 2007 installed on their computers.
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When you finish defining the columns for your library, click Next.
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On the next page of the wizard, verify that the information is correct, and then click Publish.
